Chimacum schools approve $17M budget

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 24, 2026

CHIMACUM — The Chimacum School Board unanimously approved a $17 million 2026-27 general fund budget and two deficit budgets following a public hearing.

The board’s challenges match those at districts across the North Olympic Peninsula and Washington state, where enrollment is declining, costs are skyrocketing and state support is shrinking even as student needs grow.

Kelly Liske, the district’s executive director of business and finance, told the board Wednesday that expenditures have risen significantly since she presented a draft budget at their June 24 meeting, driven mostly by increases in what the district pays to the School Employees Benefits Board, the state program that provides health benefits to Washington school employees at a rate set by the Legislature.

The ability to cover the increase came after a review with the Olympic Educational Service District that turned up an error by the state — one that had left out about $275,000 in revenue.

“Luckily we could take care of that increase plus the deficit that we had presented at the last board meeting,” Liske said.

Among the sharpest increases districts like Chimacum have seen is in insurance.

“Insurance going up by 30 percent, and that’s not just this year,” school board director Roxanne Hudson said. “Every year is huge.”

As part of its calculations to balance the budget, the district will move from to a single bus run from two runs in the fall, forced by how far transportation costs have outrun state reimbursement, Superintendent Scott Mauk said.

Chimacum’s budget assumes a K-12 enrollment of 645 students, the same as the 2025-26 academic year.

The general fund is projected to begin and end the year with a fund balance of $1.457 million.

Mauk said if revenue comes in higher than projected, he would fund programs that support students, but it’s state cuts tied to a drop in enrollment that is more pressing.

“What if 12 kids don’t show up?” he said. “I’m more concerned about that.”

Liske said the associated student body budget projects $218,700 in revenue against $171,095 in expenses — a surplus of about $47,000, most of it from an anticipated auction and other fundraising.

Two funds will carry deliberate deficits.

Capital projects showed about $9.9 million in revenue against about $10.4 million in expenditures, drawing $498,000 out of a fund balance that would fall from $1.6 million to about $1.1 million.

Liske said the district is spending down on purpose to finish work already underway — roofing this summer and HVAC next spring.

The transportation vehicle fund showed about $185,000 in revenue against a single $232,000 bus purchase. That bus is already on order and cannot be canceled; it will be paid for out depreciation funds.

“I just wanted you to know we’re not planning to buy one at this time,” Liske said.

School board director Kristina Mayer, who leads the board’s legislative advocacy, said she is building a joint platform with directors from Port Townsend, Quilcene and Brinnon so that Jefferson County districts can approach lawmakers with one set of priorities.

“If every association is asking for something different; we’re not going anywhere,” she said.

The working list runs to materials, supplies and operating costs, special education, transition to kindergarten and substitute costs.

Mayer said she counted more than 100 unfunded mandates imposed by the Legislature since 2017. Seven passed in the 2025 session alone, including a requirement for a new high school transcript showing competency-based crediting.

“Despite the fact that we tried really hard last year to ask them please not to give us any more, we continue to get piled on more things with little or no funding,” she said.

Mauk put it in terms of the state’s own numbers. Education’s share of state spending has fallen from about 52 percent after the state Supreme Court’s 2012 McCleary decision, which held that Washington was failing its constitutional duty to amply fund public schools, to roughly 41 percent now, he said.

The board also accepted three donations Wednesday — a grant from Foundry 10, a Seattle-based foundation that Mauk said has given the district roughly $100,000 across four grants. This one is for social-emotional learning curriculum. The board also accepted a Community Wellness Project donation to the school garden program and $5,200 from a community foundation for the Open Doors and Earn to Learn programs.

Mayer thanked Mauk for declining a salary increase and 2.6 percent inflation price deflator (IPD) adjustment, saying it made a difference in balancing the budget.

Mauk has a base salary of $179,000. He is the only Chimacum School District employee who is not scheduled to get a raise.

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.